Finally. After nine months we’re excited to announce our new arrival– the master bathroom. Let me remind you what the place looked like once upon a time.

Looking into the Bathroom

It was a rough spot. It smelled and there was evidence of squirrel inhabitants. This is a shot from standing inside the bathroom looking at the spot where the toilet would one day be installed.

We Ended up Removing that Pony Wall

I got a big dose of inspiration from some photos I found online. I’ll show you those next so you can see how that impacted our final design. We loved the idea of infusing a pop of yellow and installing a barn door mechanism instead of standard door frame.

This Inspiration Photo is from Southern Living Magazine

And here is how our bathroom turned out!

Looking into Our Master Bathroom

We actually found that door in the attic rafters. After picking off spider eggs and scrubbing away what I’m sure was a few decades of dirt we painted it bright yellow and attached a new handle from Ikea. We decided to leave the holes from the old door hardware just to keep the old feel of it.

The Door Adds a Great Splash of Color

Let me show you our next inspiration photo. It comes from Rachel in North Carolina. I am a reader of her blog Southern Exposure and when I first saw photos of her guest bathroom I was in love! I emailed Rachel to find out if she had any plans for that vanity that she had custom built, but she didn’t so my husband used this photo to create a knock-off.

What an Inspiration! I Just Loved Rachel's Guest Bathroom

Now here’s a look at our vanity. Keep in mind that my husband built this himself from scratch, and that when I met him a few years ago he didn’t know how to use a drill. I’m so proud of him! I helped by sanding it, staining it, caulking it and covering it with a few coats of polyurethane.

Our Eight Foot Long Vanity with Double Sinks

Another thing we loved was Rachel’s idea for taking normal 12×12 marble tiles from Home Depot and cutting them in half to create a much more luxurious looking layout. We hand-picked every tile (150 of them!) from the shelves of Home Depot to make sure we got the best ones. Then we cut them all in half which was not fun. We hired a pro to install them for us, but we’ve cleaned, sealed and polished each one by hand.

A Look into the Shower

You’ve probably noticed the brick. It’s the chimney bust from the main floor fireplace. From the very beginning we loved the idea of keeping this brick exposed to add a unique feature that felt more loft-like. What we didn’t realize was that the chimney was not perfectly straight which really became a pain in the butt down the road. I still think it adds a great design element, but it created its own set of issues.

The Sinks and Faucets are from Overstock.com

We actually bought the toilet two years ago for our downstairs bathroom, but the modern design didn’t work with our existing plumbing. Our handyman had never seen a toilet with two buttons and sweetly explained to me that the small button was the “pee button!”

Our New Eco-Friendly Toilet

I picked up the pictures in London a few years ago and I think they work great in the space. We still have a few little things to finalize like a curtain and storage boxes to hide some of our bathroom supplies, but I’m so happy with that way it turned out.

So Happy It's Done!

I’ll be sharing the master bedroom with you soon, but for now we need a little break. After months and months of hard work I think we’re all a little tired.

WOW Ali!! Fantastic job!! So that’s what the second button is for?! We just got that same toilet at work a while ago and no one told us how to use it (why would they, right?). So I’ve just been alternating buttons everytime I use it. This discovery also explains why there are sometimes ‘leftovers’ in the toilet when I go to use it. Someone else must be confused as to which button to push as well. So is it ‘stool right’ or ‘stool left’ for pee?

Seriously though, great job taking inspiration and making it your own!! Love it!